Memorial Art Gallery Presents TRANSactions

TRANSactions: Contemporary Latin American and Latino Art showcases 39 works from the last two decades, from the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD). By turns humorous and critical, inspirational and tragic, the exhibition seeks to dispel the myth that Latino artists are a homogeneous group with common experiences and ambitions. On view through December 30, TRANSactions is the occasion for a series of events at MAG and throughout the community.

It is accompanied by a fully-illustrated bilingual catalog and bilingual wall labels. The 36 artists are from the United States, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Spain, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Chile. "Often resisting classification as 'Latin American' or 'Latino,'" writes curator Stephanie Hanor in the exhibition catalog, "these artists create works that tell stories of cultural hybrids, political collisions and universal consequences."

A number of works present serious subjects in witty, sometimes humorous ways. Luis Gispert's Wraseling Girls exploits viewers' misconceptions about women, American iconography and Western Pictured (clockwise from far left): Tania Candiani, videz/Greedy (Comer es un pecado/Eating is a Sin), 2002 (detail). Perry Vasquez, Keep on Crossin,' 2003–05 (detail). Salomón Huerta, Untitled Figure, 2000 (detail). Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Paternity Test (Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego), 2000. All works from the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

Perry Vasquez's cartoonish Keep on Crossin' is a passionate manifesto and a charge to all individuals to continue to cross borders of all kinds. Gabriel Kuri uses the receipt from a Mexican Wal-Mart (trans- formed into an exquisite, hand-loomed tapestry) to question and examine the relationship between art and consumerism. And Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle's Paternity Test (Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego) uses colorful maps of DNA samples to challenge the boundaries between art and science. Others are more somber, yet equally provocative. Salomón Huerta's painting Untitled Figure and James Luna's photo triptych Half Indian/Half Mexican explore issues of ethnic identity. Alfredo Jaar's large- scale photographic installation Six Seconds/It is Difficult is a powerful view of the personal repercus- sions of the Rwandan genocide. And Maria Fernanda Cardoso's installation Cemetery—Vertical Garden is a poignant reference to the social costs of violence and political unrest in her native Colombia At MAG, the exhibition will also include The Protagonist of an Endless Story by Angel Rodriguez-Díaz, a portrait of the writer Sandra Cisneros on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

TRANSactions is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and made possible by the generous contributions of MCASD's International Collectors, the Cochrane Exhibition Fund, the City of San Diego's Commission for Arts and Culture, The James Irvine Foundation and Cooley Godward Kronish LLP. In Rochester, it is sponsored in part by Deborah Ronnen, with additional support from Charlotte and Raul Herrera, the City of Rochester, and the Rochester Hispanic Business Association, and with the assistance of New York State Senator Joseph Robach.

Across Borders Rochester

This year-long, community-wide partnership showcases the diversity of Latin American and Latino art and culture. Developed by MAG and Nazareth College Arts Center in cooperation with other area cultur- al organizations, it includes programs of interest to the Latino community and the Rochester community at large. "Across Borders Rochester" was conceived around TRANSactions and Nazareth College Arts Center presentations by Ballet Folklorico de Mexico (September 22), Tango Buenos Aires (October 5), Ballet Hispanico (January 11) and Tiempo Libre (February 16). -- mag.rochester.edu